


So now what

by kawde



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 13:00:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13236267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kawde/pseuds/kawde
Summary: Tessa and Scott move on with their lives.





	So now what

So what now?

A thought that appears every four years in Scott’s mind. What happens now?

In 2010- his young and crazy self forgoes the interview bookings that pile up in his agenda and he goes from party to party. 

In 2014- a tiny little bit more mature. What happens then is going to parties to forget everything, the past four years. What happens then is a depression that sticks to him for a year.

He flies back to his family a weekend of December 2017. Tessa has the flu and is unable to get out of bed, so they take the decision for Scott to fly solo. “Don’t miss your family time” she tells him from the locked bathroom as he sits on the bed, cabin bag by his feet. The reunion with his parents is overdue and he stuffs his mouth with homemade lasagna and mashed potatoes. His mother says she missed his smile and his brothers ruffle his hair with affection. Life is sweet until a cousin asks what is his plan for after Pyeongchang. Scott stammers somewhat of an answer that consists of three jokes and two forced laughs.

Here’s the thing, he explains to his older brother the next day in the car en route to the airport, the plan is to stay in Montreal. And because his brothers are nosy, Scott ends up explaining the relationship between him and the beautiful woman he is lucky to call his partner. They are not _not_ together but they do have separate appartements in separate buildings and separate hobbys in separate places.  
How are you together then? his confused chauffeur asks. “We’re just keeping it low-key”.

How are they together? They are together when their fingers search each other frantically after another night apart. They are as he worries sick when she is late to a party and is it because her car is not equipped with winter tires yet and she got into an accident? did her phone die? Should he go look for her? When she arrives, he makes sure to grip her neck softly and follow her around for the duration of the night. They are together when they bicker about their hypothetical first dog’s last name: hyphenated or not? They are together when he shows up at her place one night and sweeps her off her feet to dinner and when, in between hand squeezes and lingering glances, he crashes through his own self-consciousness and whispers a ‘happy second anniversary’ in the palm of her hand. They are in love when she whispers it back with tears in her eyes.

In reality, Scott expects a lot of interviews, maybe one or two parties ;he really is getting old, but he hopes for so much more. What happens is exactly that.

 

~  
February 2018.  
Pyeongchang

The last score of their career is up but the only things he can focus on are his pants scratching his thigh so much and Tessa’s small hand in his own gigantic one.

He closes his eyes and bumps his forehead down to her neck, forgetting the roar of the insane crowd. Elegant fingers trace his jaw with such reverence and calm that he feels like weeping. He hears Marie’s screeches and laughs next to them, the screams of the audience. Scott levels his eyes to hers, obviously clouded with emotion, and whispers ‘thank you... my love. For twenty more?’ He smiles and she chokes at the use of his words.

‘for twenty more, I promise.”

 

~  
March 2018  
Montreal

After an emotional phone call to their federation’s officials, their retirement is signed and sealed. Another dance team is sent to the World Championships in Milan while they are left with composing a goodbye note that both will post on Twitter.

Instead of the Italian sun, they experience yet another violent snow storm. Scott laughs/panics when Tessa ends face first on the pavement and her grocery bag rolls away with the tomatoes ending in the middle of the street. She shrieks ‘Retirement from ice _rinks_ , not ice _plaques_!’.

 

~  
April 2018  
Montreal

“Are you guys a couple now or what” his hockey buddies ask during one of the team’s night out to a fancy bar downtown.

Sure, she spends a lot of time at his place and even bought a new set of sheets and towels last week. And yes, okay, he loves to wake her up after his morning run with a surprise breakfast in her bed. Mostly, what brings attention to his inner circle of friends and relatives is that he has not had another woman in his life in the past three years and a half. So while yes, they have unconsciously installed an anniversary date and seem to enjoy holding hands and kissing fron time to time - they haven’t really had the “are we official?” talk yet.

“Is it like an open relationship? Like seeing other people and stuff?”

He mentions it to his therapist during one of their monthly meetings and here’s what he says. “ I never thought we would actually need to talk about it ya know? I dunno, neither of us is seeing anyone, at least I think so... And yeah it would really piss me off if she was. But I don’t think so. You don’t think she would be, right? I’d be so mad a myself. I was such an asshole before we moved here, remember? (The therapists nods) like really, really an idiot so I would get it if she wanted to, i dunno, move on or something.” He starts chewing on his nails.

Scott finally gets the courage to start the conversation after a motivating FaceTime discussion with his brothers. ‘Oh come on you loser’ is how they both end the phone call. Cool.

She arrives late for one of their take out/movie nights and he dives in right when she leaves the pizza on the living room coffee table. _Smooth_. The places fills with cheese sauce and nerves. _Excellent_ , he thinks. _Such an idiot, I am._

What he doesn’t expect is her also calling him an idiot and “don’t, Scott no, that’s way too much hot sauce, you’re going to burn yourself honey”

His brain makes a full complete 360. “Oh, yes okay.” he says and leaves the sauce. She smiles.

 

~  
Summer 2018

Their first wedding season as each other’s +1 is successful. He gushes over her to every single person he talks to and she fixes his ties and hair. They steal the show whenever the dancing part comes in.

Tessa catches the bouquet - more like receives the flowers in her face- at the last reception they attend in Calgary. Scott yells “finally, babe!”

 

~  
July 2018  
Montreal

Tessa announces that she wants to go back to school during an ice cream search in the middle of the supermarket at 11pm. She seems terrified of his reaction and hides behind a giant container of Ben&Jerrys.

“Because that would mean less shows and if you don’t want to stop then I totally get it. It’s fun and it pays so well....” He drops the bag of potatoes to the ground and grabs her flushed face in between his hands to kiss her. He doesn’t think he’s ever felt this happy than right now.

They spend the rest of the night talking about funding and grants. She wants to send applications to a few business related masters’s programs at Concordia and McGill. Money isn’t an issue. Their career has allowed them to amass a consequent amount over the years and it lies in their joint account. Thanks to her sponsors and jewelry line and his business and coaching job, they are both also financially independent.

What starts as a strategic discussion ends in tears and whispered apologies from Scott. Therapy sure isn’t over for him yet but she says she loves him about a thousand and three times every day so he’s okay with that. What triggers the tears is a photo of Tessa in a graduating cap from 2015 with a diploma reading “ _summa cum laude. Bachelor. Psychology major._ ” Her parents proudly holding her hands.

“I missed it” his fingers stroke the picture.

She is filling a glass of water when Scott barrels into the kitchen and takes a hold of her arm before choking out that whatever happens between them he will be there for her next graduation.

She eventually gets accepted in a one-year advanced program.

 

~  
November 2018  
Toronto

He is taken by surprise one morning when Tessa admits she thought living with him would be boring.

He continues to sip his coffee and stare at her.

“Hmm. Interesting.”

They work better as a household than a skating team. He cooks, she bakes. She makes sure they’re always on time to events and flights, he brings spontaneity and improvisation to their life. Scott keeps to weights at the gym and likes to crash in bed still sweaty from his morning runs because “Eww, you’re such a guy”. Tessa goes to pilates once a week and he makes fun of her weird positions when she stretches at home on their terrace.

Balance, respect and love is their new favourite motivation line.

 

~  
January 2019  
Montreal

They like to joke that everybody’s mother knew it but them.

It happens exactly a year after the 2018 Olympics, at home. They are simple people and he knows she wouldn’t have wanted him to go over-the-top.

Scott finds her outside sitting on their outdoor couch wrapped in a blanket. A beautiful cashmere hat is on her head, a Christmas gift from him. The hot chocolate is set on the table as she finishes one last email to her jewellery brand’s designer.

The soft twinkle lights on the railing set a sort of romantic vibe. “Hey Tess” he whispers with a smile.

“Hm” she shoves her MacBook from her lap to the side.

He gets down on one knee with a new-found confidence and a beaming smile. A ring box makes its appearance when she starts shaking. “Tess?”

“ spider?”

_What?_

“Hum is it a spider down there?” She asks, eyes closed shut.

“Oh no, it’s just me Tess” She opens her eyes to him, one knee down and a breathtaking ring between his fingers. “Oh Scott”.  
Her fingers slide to his hair, finally long again, as he delivers a short monologue that contains everything it needs to. Words as ‘forever’, ‘21 years’ ‘always loved you’ ‘definitely cannot live without you’ and the final ‘will you marry me’.

  
Montreal’s skyline is the first spectator to the engaged couple’s happiness and emotion.

 

~  
April 2019  
Montreal

The engagement is made public when Tessa attends a red-carpet event. The ring isn’t obnoxious or big by any standards but it does stand out against her beautiful dress. She gets four congratulatory squeals and one ‘who’s the lucky guy?’ question.

That one is surprising because she has posted pictures of Scott and with Scott on social media a lot this past year. Obviously, people seem to think that she was able to move on. A thought that is confirmed when a journalist asks Tessa ‘what’s country boy doing now’ with an arrogant tone.

She is upset for the rest of the evening until she gets a text from Scott.  
‘ _u coming home soon? :( I made shrimp pasta!_ ’

She can’t press the Uber app fast enough. When she finally gets home and throws her shoes in the hallway she finds him stirring a sauce with lit candles around the kitchen island. Scott throws her a welcoming smile and he doesn’t have the time to ask how was the party before she is looping her arms around his neck and kissing him.

They break the internet when he posts a picture on Twitter for Tessa’s 30th birthday.

‘ _The happiest of birthdays to you, best friend and best fiancée_ ’

 

~  
September 2019  
London

It’s a simple and cozy ceremony with no more than a hundred guests. Family and closest friends, only the people who saw them grow up to be the couple they are today.

There’s no tears from the groom but he does slide the ring a little too quickly on his very very soon to be wife. No embarrassing PowerPoint is displayed and everyone gets stuffed with a myriad of cakes because Tessa couldn’t decide on just one.

Her dress flows prettily around her husband as they take their first dance. They enter the next chapter of their life with a small yet significant difference - his surname is added at the end of hers forever.

 

~ 

January 2020  
Montreal

Tessa completely forgets to tell him about her trip to Vancouver tomorrow. It’s 6pm and he is still at the rink but is due home in two hours and she knows - she _knows_ \- that he is going to be furious.

She’s been travelling a lot around the country to prepare the launch of her business. Her line she is so proud of - a mix of sportswear and jewellery. And Scott has been more than supportive, but their professional obligations severely reduce their time together at home and he has been very vocal about his dislike of their current situation. Tessa tells him that her travelling will be over soon as her brand will be based in Montreal, but it’s not enough to keep the frown off his face every time he drops her off at the airport.

She gnaws on her lip as she waits for an answer to her text asking if he wants to eat sushi tonight.

‘ _yeah ok works for me. Take out tho. Been way too long since we sat on the couch together._ ’

He lifts her in his arms later on, dropping his bag to hug his wife he has not seen in four days because of skate camp. They set down on the couch in front of a movie, arms around each other, after eating take out on the kitchen island. Scott keeps stroking her hair, her cheek, her arms and whispering how much he missed her while away in Saskatoon.

Naturally, she lets out a whimpering cry and turns around in his arms to deliver the news.  
“Please don’t be mad. I swear I forgot, I got food poisoning because of the damn oysters I was forced to eat at an event two days ago and it flew out of my mind, i swear!”

Tessa immediately regrets her words because not only does he get upset about her leaving but he also is furious about the oysters. He throws out words like “you should’ve told me!” and “how would you react if I was dead sick without you knowing?”. 6 months of marriage taught her that her husband hates to be kept from things. She apologizes again and again to him, offering him his favourite ice cream and a neck rub to soften his tensed muscles.

 

~  
January 2020  
Vancouver

 _Something feels weird_.

That’s what Scott has been thinking since dropping Tessa off at the airport 3 days ago. Something doesn’t feel right and it keeps him from sleeping at night so much he ends up calling Tessa at crazy hours of the night or sending her desperate sappy WhatsApps.

After an afternoon spent at the rink with a severe anxiety at the back of his head, he decides to book a seat on the earliest flight to Vancouver. He knows her hotel and room number so he hopes to surprise her by slipping beside her in bed while she’s asleep.

Scott’s plan does not go like that.

He finds his wife sitting on the hotel room’s bathroom floor in a state of shock and she starts crying when he appears in front of her eyes. Scott panics and asks if she needs him to call 911, if she is hurt and _what the hell is going on?_

He is hyperventilating and struggling to keep his heart in check when she finally pulls him down to her on the floor and slides her palms to his cheeks. He’s still talking so fast and with shaky breaths, he thinks he’s going into cardiac arrest.

“Calm down, calm down” Scott hears her whisper and he takes a long breath.

 _It’s after midnight. I am at the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel in Vancouver. 6th floor. It’s raining_ , he thinks and turns his head towards the window to check and

“What, what did you say”

His heart starts galloping again and he’s too old for this, he’s 32 and _Tess come on, stop crying, my heart is not handling this situation and wait why are you even crying..._

Scott falls back to his knees.

_Daddy?_

He says that out loud because she grips his hair tighter and nods against his forehead.

“You’re going to be a dad soon” Tessa smiles through her tears.

 

~  
August 2020  
Montreal

“Stop moving” she kicks his shin under the sheets.

Scott bolts upright and sits on the bed, head against the headboard. One hand on her stomach as he feels their baby kicking a little bit. He takes a look at her face and he knows she’s uncomfortable, the kicks are starting to be painful for her, and she keeps saying she feels gross and obese although he’s honestly never seen her so beautiful and sexy _and it’s not like i have spent an entire season with a program basically revolving in her thighs wrapped around every inch of my body._

She stifles a groan of pain and rolls to his chest where he catches her softly.

“I’m so sorry Tessa....” he whispers “maybe we should get you checked by a chiropractor?”

“It’s okay, I’ll go to yoga everyday from now on. But one month to go!” She giggles happily and strokes her stomach with a smile on her face. Scott thinks his heart is not conditioned to support so much love.

Later on in the afternoon he gets a reality check phone call from Patrice asking him at what time he is going to be at the airport. Scott is leaving for a week to Detroit where his American junior and senior teams are expected for a start of the season review by the USFSA.

Tessa is slowly moving around the kitchen and stacking cookies in a Tupperware for him to bring his teams. He feels awful for leaving her so close to the due date and is terrified of her going into labor without him. In order to appease his mind, he makes her promise to text him every hour and call twice a day. He’s also forced Joannie to check on her tomorrow and both of their moms are arriving for the weekend.

“Here” Tessa slips the cookie container is his back pack and checks his passport and e-ticket on his phone.

He is about to pull her to his arms when he remembers his toothbrush and runs to the bathroom while cursing himself. “Scott you should start going, you’re going to be late” she laughs and he’s struck by how young she looks, standing in the middle of the hallway, wearing a very loose maxi dress to beat the Montreal heatwave of August.

“Do you have everything?” He nods. ”Okay, say hi to the kids for me” her palm rests on his cheek and he feels her lips on his nose since she can’t reach his forehead anymore.

The goodbyes are heart wrenching for him. He’s scared out of his mind and she’s sad to see him go. They kiss for long minutes before she pulls away and he takes his bag towards the elevator.

_Oh wait_

Scott runs back to the door and throws himself dramatically to his knees in front of her. He presses his hands to her aching back and gently kisses what seems to be their baby’s kicking little foot.

Tessa’s heart swells with love and pride.

 

~  
September 2020  
Montreal

It’s 2:04am and Scott is looking for his wife and daughter through the darkened rooms of the apartment. He is clutching a delicate velvet box in his palm while tiptoeing around until he hears her soft voice in the living room.

“sleep well, my baby” he hears Tessa whisper. “daddy is sleeping and we wouldn’t want to wake him up now, would we?”

He walks to his girls on the couch and takes a look at their precious treasure. He brushes a finger on her forehead before leaning down to kiss her small nose. “Hi Talula”.

Tessa smiles tiredly at him and cradles the baby closer to her chest to stand up. “I’ll put her down here in the cozy” He stands too and offers support with his hand on her back and another on their daughter’s head as she is laid down.

The baby falls asleep immediately and Scott pulls Tessa to the couch. “Do you know what day today is” he whispers and strokes a finger down her arm.

“Tali’s one week old? ” Tessa answers and he kisses her forehead before leaving his against hers.

Scott pulls the box out and opens it to reveal a splendid golden bangle. He hears her gasp and her hands fly to cover her mouth in surprise. A splendid 18 karats rose gold bangle with two turquoise buttons on each end. Tessa is speechless and he takes the time to admire her once again. Hair a wild mess, perfect skin and slightly red eyes, sleep short and tank top an ivory white under a satin robe.  
_If only you knew how much I love you._

He leans in to rest his hands on her thighs.

« Happy first anniversary of marriage Tess ».

He thanks her for everything: her love, their family, their career, her patience and acceptance.

 

~  
December 31st 2017.  
Montreal. 11:45pm.

He regrets this immensely but figures that he might as well try and fake his enjoyment instead of muttering insults to himself under his breath.

( _Also, Tessa looks startlingly good with her black jeans and glittery top._ )

Some guy he’s never met before pushes another shot of vodka in his hand. Scott discreetly leaves it on the nearest table and questions his sanity in bringing them to this party. Tessa wanted to come over to his apartment and snuggle with him on his couch and probably also kiss him at midnight with his arms tightly wrapped around her. His idiot self insisted on going out because “it’s going to be fun, Tess!”

What wouldn’t he give to go a few hours back.

“5 minutes!!” Someone shouts in the apartment and he sees some people look around the room for their significant other. A cold little hand slips into his and he feels a smirk appear on his face.

“You’re smiling” she notes, whispering.

“This party was such a mistake. Can we leave soon? I’ll drop you off” he begs.

“3 minutes!”  
Tessa tugs on his hand towards the open balcony and he instantly shields her from the cold with his arms around her shoulders. “What do you wish for in 2018?”. He knows they’re not talking about the Olympics.

“2 minutes!”  
He chuckles and she turns around to slide her arms around his hips and press their bodies together.  
“I think you might have an idea, T”

“1 minute!”  
Scott drops his head to her neck to whispers. “You coming back to my place tonight?”  
People start shouting numbers but he’s lost in her eyes and their silent conversation before she nods “I want you to be the first person I wake up to in 2018”

“Only 2018?” He smiles before diving to her inviting red lips. He feels her try to answer his question but he shakes his head and deepens their embrace by sliding both of his hands in her hair. It’s -30 degrees outside and the party is too much but _hell_ , he is kissing what he knows is the love of his life with fireworks all around them and ‘ _could I ever be happier than right now_ ’ he questions.

 

“I love you so much” Scott says against her forehead on January 1st 2018 at 11:03am. They are in his bed, both of them barely wearing more than boxers for him and a tank top and a thong for her. Tessa’s arm lays on his chest and her head is nestled in his shoulder. She is warm and smells like vanilla so he takes the decision to not let her leave his bed today.

It’s January 1st 2018 and Scott thinks that maybe happiness is finally around the corner for him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
